It is not surprising that the newer, higher performance microprocessors, which provide larger data handling capabilities at higher speeds, require an increased number of electrical connections. Simply put, the clear trend in the computer industry is towards integrated circuits and chipsets having a larger number of interconnections. At the system level, this trend has placed demands on the connector technology that provides electrical interconnections between various circuit boards comprising a computer system.
For example, in the mobile computing market there is a demand for low profile connectors that provide a large number of interconnections (i.e., pins) for circuit boards connected to the main system board (i.e., motherboard) of the computer. These additional circuit boards or cards, which are attached to the system board, are frequently referred to as daughtercards. Presently, conventional stacked connectors provide a linear row of pins, which may provide up to 280 connection points for a typical circuit board connected to a computer motherboard. Although the traditional stacked connector approach has proven adequate in the past, there is still a need for more advanced connectors which provide even larger pin counts without increasing the profile height or thickness of the mated boards.
As will be seen, the present invention provides a board-to-board connector that allows a card or module to be mounted either co-planar with a computer system main board, or stacked onto the main board, depending upon the main board configuration. The invention provides a three-dimensional connection surface area that yields a substantially increased pin count.